California State Route 125 - History

History

In the early 1990s, only the section south of Interstate 8 and north of State Route 94 was completed; confusingly, it was signed as State Route 94, even though it met with both westbound and eastbound Route 94 at its southern terminus. The Route 125 signs later replaced the Route 94 signs, although at Interstate 8 a "TO" referring to Route 94 was still carried on the signs for Route 125 South (until signs were replaced in 2011).

The northernmost portion of the current Route 125 was built in stages. For a time, its northern terminus was at the current exits for Fletcher Parkway, then later at Navajo Road, although passage through the construction zone to Grossmont College Drive was possible via Fanita Drive, the street which was replaced by the freeway construction (which remained open throughout its conversion to a freeway). The northernmost portion (north of Grossmont College Drive) was completed to State Route 52 and Mission Gorge Road while the portion between Navajo Road and Grossmont College Drive was still under construction. This section was completed in 2005, although some upgrade work was done in 2010 at the interchange with State Route 52 and Mission Gorge Road, adding ramps for the 2011 expansion of Route 52 to the east.

In the early 2000s, further construction resulted in the third section of Route 125, connecting southward from State Route 94 to State Route 54. This allowed southbound traffic on Route 125 to continue to westbound State Route 54, while eastbound State Route 54 continues northbound on Route 125. A portion of this facility was a four-lane surface expressway, later improved to a freeway as part of the South Bay Expressway construction.

The fourth section, the South Bay Expressway toll road, opened on November 19, 2007, extending Route 125 southward from State Route 54 to Otay Mesa. This toll road was one of four privately financed toll highway projects, including the 91 Express Toll Lanes, allowed under a state law that was passed in 1989. This portion of the freeway had been planned since 1959, but due to lack of funds was not going to be built for many years. Interestingly, the tolled portion was not planned to connect with State Route 54. In order to ensure continuity, funds from a local transportation sales tax were used to finance the remaining segment, including the interchange with Route 54. The transition from the privately financed toll road to the publicly financed segment can be observed by the change in the pavement as the toll road is paved in asphalt, while the connection is paved in concrete. Toll roads that revert to public ownership are typically paved in asphalt, as it costs less and its poor durability does not concern the road's temporary owners. There are no exits on this short connection, however, so it is signed as being a toll facility. The toll road is equipped with a coin collecting electronic toll collection equipment, the electronic equipment being the FasTrak RFID ststem used elsewhere in California. Tolls are collected at all northbound onramps and southbound offramps. A mainline toll plaza is located at the southern end of the facility just north of State Route 905. The toll road will be extended further south a short distance when the Route 905 freeway is constructed. A new freeway-to-freeway interchange will connect Route 125 with Route 905 as well as State Route 11, a new toll road that will connect to a new border crossing east of Otay Mesa.

On March 22, 2010, the toll road's operator filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing traffic counts running at less than 40% of initial estimates due to the economic downturn. At the time of the filing, the expressway had $510 million of loans outstanding, of which $170 million was owed to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In addition, there was over $600 million of unresolved litigation with the construction contractors. EBITDA for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 was approximately $3 million on revenues of $21 million. On July 29, 2011, SANDAG agreed to purchase the lease of the freeway from toll road operator, South Bay Expressway LLC; the sale was finalized on December 16, 2011. SANDAG claimed at the time that they would reduce the tolls to attract increased use. Due to toll reductions that are 25% to 40% less than their pre-public owned amounts, the number of vehicles using the toll portion of the expressway have increased by 19% as compared to the previous year.